EVENTS

Michele Bachmann goes off her medication again

The Daily Show looks at Michele Bachmann’s sensational allegation of possible Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into the highest levels of government. Her reckless accusations have caused even her party colleagues to break ranks and criticize one of their own, something that is rare these days.

(This clip appeared on July 19, 2012. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)

Could it really be that just in the recent past this person was a serious contender for the Republican nomination for president, having won the Ames Iowa straw poll less than a year ago? Or was that just a bad dream?

Oh Michele, Michele, we could love you for being an endless source of unintentional crackpot humor if you were not also such a malignant influence.

Doesn’t the whole idea of “insult” revolve around deliberately mis-applying a similarity? In that sense, an insult isn’t worth throwing if it doesn’t liken someone to something unpleasant. Because, otherwise, it’d be simply “a truth” — no manure pile will be insulted by being called “shitty”, right?

If you call someone an “asshole” you are likening them to an underappreciated (according to my cat, anyway!) piece of anatomy. Since they obviously are not anal sphincters, the insult value of “asshole” is the unpleasant comparison.

Calling someone a “jerk” is insensitive to those who don’t feel masturbation is bad.
Calling someone a “fucker” is insensitive to celibates or people who are otherwise sexually damaged.
Calling someone a “scumbag” is insensitive to manufacturers of prophylactics.
Calling someone a “douchebag” is insensitive to prostitutes who need to clean themselves frequently. (Well, that’s what it meant in the 50’s anyway)
…

The point of insults is that they are intended to give offense. Otherwise, stick to facts; complaining that attempts to give offense are offensive is redundant.

The point of insults is that they are intended to give offense. Otherwise, stick to facts; complaining that attempts to give offense are offensive is redundant.

Presumably the intent here was to offend Bachmann, not the millions of people like me who when we go off our meds are almost universally a danger to ourselves alone and mostly manage not to be bigoted asshats at a greater than average rate.

And your evaluation of people with mental illness as “something unpleasant” is noted.